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CROISSANT: Name a popular book or series that everyone (including you) loves.

The Lunar Chronicles

I don’t love this one as much as I used too, and I wouldn’t say that everyone loves it. However a lot of people do.

Macarons: Name a book that was hard to get through but worth it in the end.

Carry On

I had a little trouble getting into this book as the beginning was so slow, but I ended up reading it very quickly as it picks up after that.

VOL-AU-VENT: Name a book that you thought would be amazing but fell flat.

The Maze Runner

I had really high expectations for this book, but I just felt too distant from the characters to connect to the story properly.

PAIN-AU-CHOCOLAT: Name a book that you though would be one thing but turned out to be something else.

The Name of the Wind

I wasn’t expecting this book’s plot to go the way it did. Probably going to get some hate for this, but the whole book I felt like I was waiting for a climax that never really came. So in that way the story was not what I expected.

PROFITEROLE: Name a book or series that doesn’t get enough attention.

Unwind

I have to agree with the one who tagged me on this one. The Unwind series does not get enough love.

CROQUEMBOUCHE: Name a book or series that’s completely complex.

The Stormlight Archive

The fictional world where this series is set is one of the most — if not the most– complex I have ever read about.

NAPOLEON: Name a movie or TV show based off a book that you liked better than the book itself.

The Maze Runner

Didn’t really like the second movie, but I enjoyed the first one more than I did the book which, as I’ve mentioned, did not live up to my expectations.

EMPANADA: Name a book that was bittersweet.

The Hero of Ages (Mistborn #3)

That ending . . . This is all I can say without spoilers. Anyone who has read this book will know what I mean.

KOLOMPEH: Name a book or series that takes place somewhere other than your own country.

The House of the Scorpion

This book takes place in a combination of a fictional country located on what is now the border between the US and Mexico and a somewhat futuristic version of Mexico though it is called something else in the book.

PATE-A-CHOUX: Name a food from a book or series that you would like to try.

The Stormlight Archive

I would like to try some of the foods Lift from the Stormlight Archives steals from the tables of the wealthy.

Synopsis: A series of fairy tale retelling that take place in the future. The first is a retelling of Cinderella with her as a cyborg.

Review: It is hard to put my thoughts about this series into words. On one hand, I really loved the first three books which I read one after the other. On the other, I wasn’t a fan of the novella, Fairest, and my opinion of Winter is a conflicting mess.

All four of these books are very fast paced. I read them in a short span of time because they’re the type of books that have one thing happen directly after another. That said, I think I would have enjoyed Winter much more if I had read it long after the other three books.

I read Cinder and Scarlet one after another about a month before the release of Cress. I read Cress within days of its release. This means that I had over a year to wait between the release of Cress and Winter.

This series is character driven. The readers’ enjoyment depends very much on how much they care about the characters. I’m not going to go into details because I don’t want to spoil anything, but each book in this series adds a new main character as its focus while continuing the ongoing plot line from the previous books.

By the time the story gets to Winter there are a lot of narrators. This isn’t necessarily a problem as Marissa Meyer is good at jumping between narrators and story-lines. The way the multiple perspectives were handled especially well in Cress where I really enjoyed the characters’ various story-arcs.

In WinterI still never felt the urge to skip any character’s perspectives. Everything included still seemed interesting and relevant, but I felt like because there were so many characters there wasn’t much time to focus on any one. Because of the time I spent between reading Cress and Winter I feel as if I lost connection to the characters and was never able to entirely regain it.

One of my favorite parts of the Lunar Chronicles is how the retelling aspect is executed. While the story is technically a retelling with several callbacks to the original story woven throughout, it also has an ongoing original story-arc connecting all of the books together. This ongoing original story helps to keep the book from being too predictable.

That said, I felt the world-building could have been better executed. Often while reading I had trouble understanding what was being described, and how the world had gotten to be how it was in the Lunar Chronicles from how it was now. This is especially true of the governments in the story. I have a hard time seeing how so many large countries would revert to being ruled by monarchies in which the emperor/king/queen had such a significant amount of power, and how said countries came to have the boarders that they did.

The Lunar’s essentially magical “gift” was especially difficult for me to understand. I didn’t see what the limits of using it were, and was confused about how certain people came to have so much more control than others.

Rating: I’m giving the series a 4.5/5 overall because of the amount of time I’ve spent obsessed with it.

December was a great reading month. I read a total of nine books a few of which were mentioned in my favorite books of 2015 post.

Short Synopsis: Five young dragons prophesied to end a war must work together to escape from those who raised them, and find there way in the world.

Thoughts: This is my favorite middle grade fantasy novel of 2015. It used several common tropes of the genre, but I really enjoyed that the dragons were portrayed as dragons as opposed to humans who looked like dragons.

This is something hard to write properly while still making the readers sympathetic to the characters as they are so different from each other.

Full length review to come.

Rating:

Short Synopsis: The second book in a series in which four children bond with ancient creatures of legend and must save the world from destruction.

Thoughts: This book dragged a little for me though I still enjoyed it. I still plan to read the next one. It was interesting to see the slight stylistic changes caused by this book having a different writer than the first.

Rating:

Short Synopsis: A crew of six thieves are hired to pull off the heist that could save the world.

Thoughts: It was a very close call, but in the end I decided to name this book as my favorite young adult fantasy novel of 2015. For my full thoughts, read my review.

Rating:

Short Synopsis: The final book in a series of interconnected fairy tale retellings taking place in the future.

Thoughts: I definitely liked this book, but I feel very conflicted as to how much I liked it. Full length series review of the Lunar Chronicles to come.

Rating:

Short Synopsis: After their planet is caught in the middle of a war between intergalactic corporations Kady and Ezra find themselves refugees trying to flee to an inhabited part of the galaxy before the corporation that invaded their planet catches them.

Thoughts: I had some trouble getting into this book at first due to its unique formatting. I felt a little detached from the characters. However, as the book progressed I adjusted and the pacing picked up. I ended up reading this book twice this month.

The first time in physical form and the second time as an audiobook. I rarely reread books so soon after finishing. I decided to name this book my favorite young adult science fiction book of 2015.

Full review to come.

Rating:

Short Synopsis: Young magician finds his way in the world.

Thoughts: I know so many people who love this book, and I really wanted too as well. Sadly, I think the hype made me anticipate too much. I still liked this book, but what kept me from loving it was a combination of what I felt to be the lack of a satisfying climax and the ease at which everything seemed to come to Kvothe.

Rating:

Short Synopsis: Second book in the Diviners series.

Thoughts: I listened to this one on audiobook, and the narrator did a good job, but be warned, I had the first few lines of the music box song stuck in my head for around three days.

Enjoyed this sequel and seeing all of the new and old characters again. The historical references were well worked into the plot. I like how different this book is from the other fantasy novels I’ve been reading.

Rating:

Short Synopsis: Every time Harry August dies his life starts over again exactly how it began. One time as Harry is dyeing someone shows up at his bedside to inform him that the end of the world is coming and he needs to stop it.

Thoughts: I had a slight issue with this book’s structure and the pacing, but other than that I really enjoyed it. It was so thought provoking, and the world building was extremely well done.

If I write a full review I may end up giving it a higher rating than I do now because I can’t seem to stop thinking about this book, and that makes me want to rate it higher than I did initially.

Rating:

Short Synopsis: One girl is chosen to live with a “dragon” in his castle for 10 years.

Thoughts: Really enjoyed this twist on the typical fairy tale, but I had some trouble following what was happening at times.

In February I read four books for the first time and reread three. I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump and still am. When this happens I typically start rereading some books I found highly enjoyable.

First Time Reads:

Short Synopsis: Book two in a series about a family with a time traveling gene.

Thoughts: I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first in the series and am debating whether to continue on. The characters have really begun to annoy me, although I do enjoy the underlying plot.

Rating:

Short Synopsis: Prequel to the Lunar Chronicles Series. Find out how Queen Lavana got to be such an evil villain.

Thoughts: If it weren’t for my reading slump I think I would have enjoyed this much more. It gives background information I suspect will be useful for understanding Winter when it is released, but those who try to skip this book in the series should still know enough to grasp events in the series finale.

Rating: Too conflicted to decide.

Short Synopsis: Teenager finds herself at a camp for paranormal creatures.

Thoughts: This book had me laughing out loud on several occasions, and put me in a good mood. It was a great choice for when I was both in a reading slump and not feeling well. At the same time I felt like it was following some sort of unspoken formula for YA and middle grade novels (ie girl goes somewhere new where two boys fight for her affections). This book feels like it was very much an introduction for the future books in this series which I do intend to read.

Rating:

Short Synopsis: Hamlet attempts to kill his uncle, Claudius, to avenge his father’s murder.

Thoughts: I was read exerts from Hamlet before bed when I was younger and it was interesting to see how all of those exerts came together to form a story.

Rating: I can’t decide.

Rereads:

Short Synopsis: Teenage girl tries to ease tensions between humans and dragons while keeping her own past a secret.

Thoughts: Thoroughly enjoyed this book both times I’ve read it. For my full thoughts see my review.

Rating:

Short Synopsis: Angels leave the world in ruins and kidnap a girl’s sister. Girl nurses an angel back to heath to convince him to give her information about her sister’s location.

Thoughts: A fast pace, captivating read. For my full thoughts see my review.

Rating:

Short Synopsis: Sequel to Angelfall.

Thoughts: Still enjoyed this one, and am eagerly anticipating the series finale, but I liked the first one better. This book has a much slower pace, and a certain male character didn’t have enough page time which wouldn’t normally be a problem for me, but this character and the main character have an amazing dynamic. This dynamic was part of the reason I loved the first book.

Rating:

Currently Reading:

To see a full review of anything I’ve read this month but haven’t reviewed please comment below with a request.

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I am not paid or otherwise compensated in any way for the reviews on this blog. Many of the books on this site were either bought by me, given as a gift by a friend or family member, or borrowed from my local library.
Advanced readers copies are sometimes provided by publishers but this does not influence these, nor any other review.